LOS ANGELES – After catching a questionable split call in his official octagon debut, Nam Phan got judges to go his way.

Battling significant disadvantages in height and reach, Phan put on striking clinic against a game Cole Miller, taking home two of three rounds on two judges cards for a split decision.

The featherweight fight closed out the preliminary card of Saturday’s UFC on FOX 4 event at Staples Center in Los Angeles. It aired on FUEL TV prior to a main card on FOX.

Miller set to work by using his considerable length to snipe at Phan from a distance. The low-stanced Phan tried to inch in, and a little over a minute into the action, he dug a heavy body shot to Miller. A left hook followed, which prompted Miller to gamble on the inside.

Miller had his success keeping Miller at the end of his punches. But Phan found his way in and landed several hard left hooks that bloodied Miller. In response, Miller worked a steady jab. But by the end of the first, Phan apparently had solved the length puzzle.

Phan continued to pursue in the second, and Miller had success with a jab. Every time he got close enough, however, Phan’s slick counter-punching scored points. Miller found his distance midway through the round, using the jab.

Meanwhile, Phan continued to pursue, attacking the body when Miller attempted to lean out of danger. Two stiff straight rights landed for Miller, and Phan reset to land more lunging combinations.

Going into the third, Phan charged only to meet a few kicks. A counter-charge brought him more success with the left hook, and Miller staggered. Having little success in the pocket, Miller tried to improve things by attempting a takedown. He would have no luck, and Phan would continue to score with combinations. A left hook to the body from Miller slammed into Phan’s flank. But the Vietnamese fighter kept coming.

A flurry of punches and leaping kicks from Miller got Phan’s attention in the final minute of the round, but failed to finish the fight. The official scores were announced 29-28 for Phan, 29-28 for Miller, and 29-28 for Phan.

“I had to win, so I feel great,” Phan said. “The fight was everything I thought it would be, but I’m surprised he took me down that often. He is really tough on the ground, so my goal was to sprawl and brawl throughout the fight. I saw a lot of Asian faces out there in the crowd, so I wanted to put on a show for my people.”

“I wish I would’ve been more well-rounded out there,” Miller said. “My boxing was solid, but I should’ve worked a little harder. I heard the crowd react to some of his shots that didn’t really do any damage. My posture was too tall, and as a result it looked a lot worse than it actually was. He only really clipped me hard with one of his punches. I tried not to force anything out there and stayed loose, which cost me on the cards. I don’t want to call him one-dimensional, but he was everything I expected him to be out there. I just made a few mistakes.”

Phan (18-10 MMA, 2-3 UFC) returns to the winner’s circle after being dominated by Jim Hettes at UFC 141, and improves to 2-3 since his turn on “The Ultimate Fighter 12,” which was capped by a dubious decision loss to Leonard Garcia in the show’s finale. Miller (18-7 MMA, 7-5), meanwhile, has now dropped back-to-back fights following a decision loss to Steven Siler at UFC on FX 2.

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